


After

by Churbooseanon, red_as_ever



Series: The State Game [2]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: AIs as Humans and Humans as AI, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 05:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4088230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Churbooseanon/pseuds/Churbooseanon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_as_ever/pseuds/red_as_ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Theta blames herself for the loss of someone she looks up to, and even the one closest to her doesn't know how to comfort her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Before](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/120061) by Nightrae. 



> For our AI/Freelancer swap AU, currently tentatively called The State Game.
> 
> Warning: Theta is female in this AU. If you don't like that, turn back now.

It’s been three days.

Three days since what everyone was talking about in hushed voices as the Incident. You could hear the capital ‘I’ in their voices, at least Delta could. Not that he can blame them. He thinks he’ll never forget the way…

But really, that isn’t important right at this second. What is important is that it has been three days since Delta has seen Theta. Since anyone has seen her. Since anyone has heard tell of her.

Three days that he’s taken meals to her door, and come back hours later to find it untouched. Three days of the Counselor assuring him that Agent Theta was fine, and that she would be back on active duty soon enough.

Three days since he’s seen her smile, heard her voice, or the simple reassurance of her armor-clad form striding confidently through the halls.

Three days is enough.

When he knocks on the door there’s no answer. Not that he really expected one. But he wasn’t talking silence as an answer this time. Instead he heads directly for the keypad and punches in the override code that he’d figured out within days of boarding the Mother of Invention. Of course he knew the actual access code, but an override code made a warning chime inside the room and, well, that was half the point.

The door slid open before him and Delta stooped long enough to lift the last tray. The food was cold, but she needed to eat, and Delta knew he was going to get something down her throat whether she liked it or not.

That thought sounded far more innocent in his head the first time around, he sighed as he strode in and saw her there.

“Theta,” he sighs, voice softer than he expected to hear from himself as the door slid shut behind him and he moved to set the tray on her dresser. With a sigh he sits down next to Theta on the bed, and at least he could smile as she rolled and wrapped herself a bit around him.

He smiles softly, lets his hand come up to cup around the soft curve of her jaw, lets his thumb stroke along the gentle slope of her cheek, and her skin feels rougher than normal.

“He wouldn’t want you to cry,” Delta whispers to her, still stroking her cheek. “You know that, right?”

There’s no answer, and he isn’t shocked. With a sigh he leans down to kiss her forehead. Reaches out and toys with her unkempt hair, teases a short strand back over her ear. It’s reassuring to see her twist her head, maybe even unconsciously yearning for his touch. Maybe it wasn’t better, but it was something.

“He…”

Delta freezes for a moment, shocked to hear her voice so soon. But he smiles anyway, soft and relieved, even in spite of how raw her voice sounded. No, more than raw. Ruined.

“Yes,” Delta answers softly, shifting so he could pull Theta up and into his arms. The woman, small and broken, leans against him, her weight resting on him. “Yes he did. But…”

“It is,” Theta snaps, and then she’s shaking in his arms, and all Delta can do is curl his arms around her, holding her close and letting her cry against his shoulder. It was something, and he was thankful he had chosen to come in here in nothing but his undersuit. The last thing he needed right now was to try and help Theta find a careful way to cry amid plates and pieces of green on green armor.

“No it…”

“It is!” Theta shouts, and it’s more spirit than he’s seen from her since they’d watched on in horror from the observation room. “I’m the reason it happened. I drove him to it, I…”

Delta twists so he’s sitting entirely on the bed, pulls Theta into his lap, and holds her close. He presses his lips to her hair and whispers. It’s nonsense. It’s pointless. It’s nothing words. But she relaxes in his arms slowly. He feels the tension melt from the woman, and right now that’s all the matters. It isn’t much, but it’s the first step.

And without the first one she couldn’t begin to heal.

Which was the only thing that matters to him. He needs her to be strong. Needs her to be confident. Needs her to be cheerful and smile and laugh and be the cheerful heart of their group once more.

He needs her, because without Theta, he doesn’t know how to keep going himself.


End file.
